Expansion of Qiblatain Cultural Center and the surrounding areas___________________________________________________

توسعة مسجد القبلتينتوسعة مركز القبلتين الحضاري والمناطق المحيطة به

24 July 2019

The Development Authority of Madinah is implementing the project of the Al Qiblatain Cultural Center on an area of 27.500 m 2 with the aim of raising the capacity of 6260 worshipers, designing the network of external spaces, creating entrances and exits and developing pedestrian corridors and improving public services in the site which has religious and historical characteristics in Madinah.

The project includes the expansion of the Al-Qiblatain mosque and its associated squares, the organization of the road network, traffic and parking, the addition of architectural, educational and service elements, and the creation of guidance aids that will help highlight the importance of the site and invest its elements to achieve the economic feasibility of the project.

General Meteorology and Environment Protection Authority, Saudi Press Agency, launch the daily weather conditions bulletin in Makkah and Madinah in Arabic, English, French and Urdu.

The bulletin will continue until the end of Hajj season 1440AH.

Within the framework of cooperation between the General Meteorology and Environment Protection Authority and Saudi Press Agency, the weather forecast for Tuesday in Makkah and Madinah.

Air qualityin Makkah & Madinah

30 July 2019

General Meteorology and Environment Protection Authority and Saudi Press Agency launch today the first daily bulletin on air quality in Makkah and Madinah. The bulletin will continue until the end of Hajj season 1440AH.

Tomorrow. Friday, is the first day of the month of Dhul-Hijjah 1440 H. and accordingly the stand at Arafat Mount on the outskirts of Makkah, the peak of Hajj ritual, falls on Saturday, 10th of August 2019 and the blessed Eid Al-Adh-ha falls on the next day, that's Sunday, August 11, 2019, the Supreme Court announced this evening.

In a statement following its emergency meeting here awaiting reports from adult witnesses who might testify that they have eye-seen the moon of Zul-Hijja of this year, the Supreme Court announced that after having received verified testimonies of sightseeing Dhul-Hijjah crescent by regional courts and many witnesses from different parts of the Kingdom, it has confirmed that tomorrow is the first day of Dhul-Hijjah 1440 H. corresponding to August 02, 2019 and accordingly Saturday, the 10th of August 2019 corresponding to the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah 1440 H. is the day for standing at Arafat Mount for pilgrims and the next day is the blessed Eid Al-Adha for all Muslims.

RIYADH — The Saudi Red Crescent Authority on Wednesday announced that it has partnered with what3words, helping those in need of medical attention to be found faster and respond to incidents more effectively. The partnership, launching ahead of the busy Haj period, will enable callers to use 3 word addresses, providing a simple way to describe precisely where help is needed.

What3words has divided the globe into 3m x 3m squares and given each one a unique 3 word address. It is one of the most advanced systems in emergency operations in the world. ///seagull.shorter.hobbit for example, will take you to the front entrance of Ar Riyāḑ, Riyadh. The app is free to download for both iOS and Android, or by browser, and works offline – making it ideal for use in areas with an unreliable data connection. The 3-word address format is also consistent anywhere in the world, and available in 36 languages, including Arabic.

If the caller does not have the application, the call room receiver will send an SMS to the caller with a link to a 3-word address map and be asked to read the three words on the screen.

Abdulelah Al-Taweel, director general of information communication technology of the Saudi Red Crescent, explained that the application will add precision to the Saudi Red Crescent ID locating dispatch operations that deals with incidents that are difficult to locate accurately and this is what faces the future of the calls to the operating rooms, which requires them at times to take many details of the location and surrounding features to reach for a clearer picture of the location of the caller with the possibility of inaccuracy, and this drains valuable time is lost.

Abdulelah Al-Taweel further explained that the application enables the Red Crescent Authority in developing the system of emergency services in the Kingdom, especially in the Haj season. This application helps to reach emergency cases accurately in the areas of Haj.

The Saudi Red Crescent Society will utilize this application for the Haj season, to enable users to submit the address to the Operations Room of the Saudi Red Crescent in a way that helps the emergency teams to reach the square in the least time possible and contribute to saving the lives of others.

Chris Sheldrick, CEO of what3words adds, ‘Being in need of urgent help and not being able to easily describe where you are can be very distressing for the person involved and a really difficult situation for emergency services. Today people nearly always have their phone on them. We need to use the tools at our disposal to improve public services and potentially save lives. what3words and the Saudi Red Crescent Authority encourages everyone to download the free app to make sure they are ready to quickly share accurate location information, should the worst happen.”

What3words began operations in Saudi Arabia in 2017, and is now accepted across a number of platforms including Mobility (EasyTaxi), E-commerce (Virgin Megastore, Shop&Ship, Abdul Latif Jameel, etc), and will soon be utilized by Saudi Tourism in order to help the increasing number of tourists traveling across the Kingdom, find where they want to go.

MAKKAH — About 9,000 copies of the Holy Qur'an are being pulled out of the Grand Mosque every day for errors in the text or incomplete pages, according to Khaled Al-Harithy, director of the department of books of the Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.

He said most of the copies with printing mistakes come from Syria and are brought by pilgrims seeking reward from Almighty Allah by putting them in the shelves in the Grand Mosque.

Harithy said as many as 70 employees and 140 workers work around-the-clock to check the authenticity of the copies of the Qur'an.

"The presidency has provided more than a million copies of the Qur’an printed at King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex in Madinah which are accredited and stamped by the presidency as wakf (endowment) for the Haram which should not be taken away," he said.

He explained that the copies are kept in about 3,000 shelves which are cleaned outside the Grand Mosque.

Harithy said during the high seasons of Ramadan and the Haj, they receive daily about 100 cartons full of unaccredited copies of the Qur'an. "Each carton contains about 80 to 90 copies," he added.

Harithy said they every day about 1,000 copies of the Qur'an are distributed as gifts to the pilgrims. "Every pilgrim is also given a prayer rug," he added.

MAKKAH — A large number of umbrellas were distributed among pilgrims in the Grand Mosque and the Central Area around it, according to Makkah daily on Sunday.

The umbrellas were distributed by the department of public relations of the Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques within its program titled: “Serving pilgrims and visitors is a source of pride for us.” This is the seventh year of the program, which enables the pilgrims to beat the scorching heat in Makkah and other holy places.

The presidency said the umbrellas will protect the pilgrims against scorching heat and immune them against sunstroke and heat exhaustion.

A number of pilgrims appreciated the gifts and thanked the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for its outstanding services being provided to the Guests of Allah.

They said the government has left no stone unturned to extend consummate services to the pilgrims to enable them do their Haj rituals in ease, peace and comfort.

The number of pilgrims during the last ten years stood at 23,796,977, according to the GaStat.

August 4, 2019

JEDDAH — The Kingdom has served 95,853,017 pilgrims during the last 50 years, the General Authority for Statistic (GaStat) said on Saturday.

The number of pilgrims exceeded two million in 19 seasons, and the number of pilgrims during the past 25 years reached (54,465,253), while the number of pilgrims during the last ten years stood at 23,796,977, according to the GaStat.

The mission of counting the number of pilgrims each year is one of the most critical tasks that GaStat has the honor of assigning to about two decades ago when it was working under the name of the Department of Statistics and Information, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

The authority has been responsible for providing specific information to help the planning and development of everything related to the service of the pilgrims. This task has continued throughout these years to witness the growth of statistical methods.

The authority is required to implement three statistical projects during the Haj season (pilgrims numbers, services provided to pilgrims, and indicators of Haj management) to provide as much as information needed to support decision makers to achieve the highest degree of accuracy and comprehensiveness of data.

The Haj statistics program aims to complete all programs of plans to provide the necessary services for pilgrims, whether social, health, security, food or transportation services, using a time series for accurate data on the number of pilgrims.

Also the use of data and numbers of pilgrims by the agencies concerned with the study of facilities and necessary facilities in Makkah and the holy places, and take them into account when preparing the necessary plans for that, as well as providing the accurate data on Haj statistics for researchers, scholars, beneficiaries and those interested in this field.

GaStat will issue the final and official number of pilgrims on the evening of the 9th Dhul-Hijjah, through the Haj statistics bulletin, showing detailed results including number of residence pilgrims, number of pilgrims coming from abroad, number of pilgrims by sex, nationality, destination, and other detailed data.

JEDDAH: Makkah Gov. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal on Sunday said more than 329,000 people had been stopped from entering the holy city since the start of the Hajj season for lack of Hajj permit.

More than 144,000 vehicles without permits had also been disallowed from entering the city, 15 drivers had been arrested for illegally transporting pilgrims, and 181 bogus Hajj offices had been closed, said the governor, who is also chairman of the Supreme Hajj Committee.

The measure is enforced every Hajj season to prevent congestion.

Prince Khalid said the Saudi government has mobilized more than 350,000 people from different sectors to serve Hajj pilgrims.

He also said Saudi Arabia is not responsible for obstacles put up by the Qatari government to impede its citizens who want to perform Hajj.

“We’re not responsible for what they do. We’re responsible for what we do. We’ve opened the doors of the country and our hearts to receive pilgrims from all over the world. We serve them equally, and we welcome them in the holy land,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had created a new webpage for Qataris who wish to perform the pilgrimage this year. It then called on Qatar not to block the webpage as it did previously.

Qatari Hajj pilgrims can register their details, browse packages and pay for them at: qatar1440.haj.gov.sa

Pilgrims “are here for Hajj and worship. Let them dedicate themselves to worship and leave the other things. They’ll be welcomed and served by Saudis,” the governor said.

MAKKAH — The Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has announced its full readiness of the telecom networks to serve the pilgrims around the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

This year the total network capacity was expanded by 10 percent, provided by more than 13,000 cell towers, with 37 sites supporting 5G technologies in the Two Holy Mosques and in other holy sites.

CITC, the Saudi telecom regulator, presented its coordinating efforts aimed at enhancing the ICT services to be experienced by millions of pilgrims arriving to the Kingdom for Haj. As a result of these efforts, the average mobile download speed in Makkah and Madinah has grown exponentially to reach 44 Mbps, which is an 80 percent rise compared to last year. The number of public Wi-Fi wireless access points also went up to reach 5,442.

In a statement, Majed Al-Mazyed, CITC deputy governor for Technology and Infrastructure, has assured that all concerned government authorities and telecommunication companies had set up a robust and efficient cooperation under one vision of serving Guests of Allah, by facilitating their use of ICT services during Haj and Umrah seasons.

The huge investments directed by Saudi government over the years toward developing the ICT infrastructure in Haj areas has made adopting the most up-to-date technology a natural and feasible approach. Comprehensive inspection tours are being conducted by CITC officials and operators’ staff around-the-clock, screening networking sites and service coverage areas to measure quality of services,

ensuring the availability and quality of telecom service provided to the pilgrims.

It is worth mentioning that ICT infrastructure in Makkah and Madinah is some of the best in the world, a result of intensive utilization of latest technologies, such as broadband 4G and 5G technologies. All operators had continuously developed their networks to facilitate providing sufficient capacity and highest quality of ICT services for the Haj season, which every year becomes one of the largest gatherings of people in the world.

ISLAMABAD: Worried about not performing Hajj in the right manner? Preparations for the once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey begin months in advance for most Muslims embarking on the pilgrimage for the first time.

To make this journey less arduous and more spiritually revitalizing, a Pakistani startup has developed an app with the “world’s first virtual reality Hajj and Umrah simulator,” in a bid to guide and train would-be pilgrims about the rites and rituals of Hajj by using a virtual reality (VR) depiction of the actual holy sites in Makkah and Madinah.

“The Labbaik VR simulator offers the most accurate and realistic experience of the great pilgrimage. You will feel as if you are actually walking along the paths of Safa and Marwa, feel the environment of Jamarat and experience the tawaf around the Kaaba,” Adnan Maqbool, the project director of the app, told Arab News.

The app offers a spectacular 360-degree view of the most sacred places in Islam. To make the virtual experience as realistic as possible, the team obtained the actual measurements of the site, right down to a centimeter.

“We also took some 80,000 photographs of the holy sites in ultra-high-resolution 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) for the project which makes it possible to see small details such as the intricate textures on the pillars,” Maqbool said.

The results? The app, which has been designed keeping future 5G technology demands in mind, has been well-received, with its developers receiving invitations from several Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia.

Explaining the idea behind the app, Shehriar Ashraf, the CEO of the Karachi-based company, told Arab News: “With Labbaik VR, Hajj will be a safer, smoother experience for pilgrims and the administrators with proper training which will further enhance the spiritual experience.” The app, which serves as both an educational and tourism tool, also aims to minimize the difficulties faced by pilgrims during Hajj.

“Hajjis will be able to perform the rituals in a hassle-free manner after being trained in a virtual environment that closely resembles the actual sacred sites in Makkah and Madinah.”

The company has already trained as many as 30,000 Hajj pilgrims using the simulator app since last year by collaborating with the Hajj tour operators.

During the one-hour trainings, the operator wears the gear and uses the controllers to interact with the 3D world while the audience members view the Hajj rituals on the faint screens in front of them.

The software currently runs on PC virtual reality headsets such as Oculus Rift, with plans in place to launch a mobile app soon.

In April this year, the company provided a demo at the Dolmen Mall in Karachi city to nearly 4,000 people, several of whom were fascinated to see this kind of technology in Pakistan, Maqbool said.

Pakistan is one of several countries with the highest number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. Nearly 1.6 million Pakistanis performed Umrah during the current season as of June 6, 2019, according to the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

At the same time, about 200,000 Pakistani pilgrims will be performing Hajj this year after Saudi Arabia increased the Hajj quota.

Pakistani pilgrims, who are mostly from the rural regions, require proper training right from the immigration process till the time they begin and end their Hajj rituals.

Developers say that through the Labbaik VR, Pakistan’s religious ministry can save a lot of time and effort by training large groups of pilgrims in a virtual setting.

“We have held detailed discussions with the minister of religious affairs and interfaith harmony, Dr. Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, as well as President Dr. Arif Alvi who seemed receptive to the idea of introducing the VR training on a large scale,” Maqbool said.

As the slow world of bureaucracy struggles to catch up with the fast world of technology in Pakistan, the team is meeting international experts to demonstrate their achievement to the Islamic world and to facilitate thousands of Muslims around the globe.

The core team, including the CEO Shehriar Ashraf, Chief Technical Director and developer Faisal Khawaja and project director Adnan Maqbool, were in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, recently to meet the officials from the Ministries of Hajj and Islamic Affairs as well as the heads of research and technical excellence centers.

“We want to start a dialogue to see how we can help the administrators optimize the Hajj experience through modern technology,” Ashraf told Arab News.

Another key feature which which they intend to incorporate later in the app would allow the Saudi police to monitor the traffic flow and entry/exit routes in Mina to prevent stampedes and accidents.

“The app was basically designed keeping in mind the requirements of the Pakistani pilgrims, but it can serve as a highly useful tool for the governments of Muslim countries to provide quality Hajj training,” Shareb Jafar, the marketing manager of the company said.

“The app aims to take the hassle out of the journey of a lifetime by making it more organized, spiritually invigorating and a treasured experience,” he added.

The General Authority for Statistics said that the number of male pilgrims who performed this year reached 1,385,234, while the number of female pilgrims was 1,104,172.

August 12, 2019

MINA: King Salman received a phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulating him on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Erdogan also lauded the success of Saudia Arabia’s Hajj plans, praising the efforts under the king’s leadership to facilitate the annual pilgrimage for millions of Muslims.

King Salman said the Kingdom would do everything it could so that pilgrims could perform their rituals with ease, security and safety.

Chechnya President Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov also extended his congratulations to the king and crown prince on Eid Al-Adha.

He praised Saudi Arabia for its achievements and services at the holy sites of Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina, stressing that these efforts were appreciated and welcomed by all Muslims.

He said the success of the Hajj was a message to anyone doubting the Kingdom’s leading role in the service of the Two Holy Mosques, calling on all Muslims to support Saudi Arabia in the challenges it faced.

Al-Tuwaijri praised the Kingdom’s massive development projects, which are aimed at serving pilgrims and visitors to the Two Holy Mosques.

Egypt’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Omar Marwan expressed his appreciation for the king and crown prince’s services to Hajj. He said that the good planning and wealth of experience among Saudi authorities and agencies meant that pilgrims were able to move between sites smoothly, as well as perform their Hajj rituals with ease.

The chairman of the African Scholars Forum, Sheikh Mohammed Alhafiz Alnahawi, remarked on the development of services provided to pilgrims in Makkah, the holy sites and Madinah.

These images taken by a Saudi-owned satellite show the sprawling pilgrims’ tentcity at Mina and the Grand Mosque in Makkah during Hajj. The satellite, whichis owned by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology were taken from 600km

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